EA debuts fitness videogame for Wii
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc unveiled its first personal training product on Thursday, tapping into the growing appeal of video games as fitness systems as seen with Nintendo Co Ltd's hit title "Wii Fit" earlier this year.
The $60 title, EA Sports Active, is exclusive to Nintendo's Wii console, and will hit store shelves in March 2009. Targeted toward women as a low-cost alternative to joining sports club or gym, the game features an interactive computer trainer, and crafts running, boxing and other heart-pumping exercises to the user's desires.
Peter Moore, president of EA's EA Sports unit -- which is better known for massively popular titles such as "Madden NFL" and "FIFA Soccer" -- said that while the game is not meant to compete with "Wii Fit," which was developed by Japan's Nintendo, it does offer the potential of a more rigorous workout.
"Wii Fit -- its not really a western style philosophy of cardiovascular exercise," said Moore, a former physical education teacher. "You've got more of a classic eastern style of balance and coordination.
Such games are among an expanding list of casual titles for game systems that draw in new users to the gaming industry, which hopes to escape the global economic crisis that has hurt many companies and retailers, and threatens the crucial holiday shopping season.
Other games include Ubisoft's "Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking" and "My Weight Loss Coach" for the Nintendo DS portable game system.
These nontraditional titles are meant to appeal to an audience of mothers and older customers uninterested in established sports and adventure game franchises.
"Our core business is strong," said Moore. "The growth potential though for us is this lifestyle sports consumer."
(Reporting by Franklin Paul, editing by Richard Chang)
